Seattle

New York

London

Rome

Dubai

Singapore

Auckland

News Items

2008| 2007| 2006| 2005| 2004| 2002

Manage IT Spending - 2009

McKinsey Quarterly, Dec 2008

Many IT organizations will reduce their spending in 2009. A strong management focus can mitigate the pain—and create opportunities.

With growth slowing and valuations declining, businesses badly need to extract value from their IT functions. The operative questions are, “How much?” and “How?” As CIOs choose a path, they need to determine whether they can afford to take a “through cycle” perspective, balancing short-term financial improvements and the possible impact on longer-term capabilities. They must also consider the need to act quickly to generate cash, even if such moves prove less attractive once the recession ends.

Download this article from the McKinsey Quarterly to see their perspective on effective actions for ’09.

Gartner IT/Expo Conference, 13 October 2008

At the Gartner IT/Expo conference in Orlando on Monday 13 October, Peter Sondergaard (Gartner’s senior vice president for global research) offered a “top 10″ list for squeezing more out of tight budget funding.

[Editor’s Note: 7 of the 10 recommendations have the best chance of delivering maximum positive results if an effective portfolio management process is used.]

Gartner’s top 10:

Reduce headcount or freeze hiring
Renegotiate with technology and service providers
Curtail data center expansion, virtualise assets and lease them back
Consolidate systems
Outsource commodity services
Offshore/outsource basic IT functions
Investment shutdown
Prioritize projects
Mothball businesses and projects
Change leadership and restructure IT teams

Conferences, 10 Sept 2008

On Wednesday, 10 September, Hyde Park took part as a sponsor and exhibitor in the Central Government Project Management Conference 2008 at historic Church House conference centre in Westminster, London.

This premier national event brought together senior professionals from Central (and local) Government, industry specialists and key stakeholders who lead in the development and implementation of successful Central Government project and programme management.

The Conference included presentations by keynote speakers Christine Goodfellow CBE, Director of Information Sharing and Management at the Department of Children, Schools and Families; and Jonathan Simcock, Major Projects Executive Director at the OGC.

Following the keynotes, the programme continued with examples of best practices in a series of Seminar presentations.

OGC Provides Update for P3O(tm)

Newsletter, 24 June 2008

The 1st Edition of Portfolio, Programme, Project and Risk Management News published at the Best Practice Showcase on 24 June 2008. As with each edition, contributors to the newsletter include OGC, The APM Group (APMG: OGC's official accreditor) and TSO (OGC's official publisher).

Within this edition you will find an overview of the latest guidance from OGC: P3O™ - the approach to Portfolio, Programme & Project Office best practices (hence the name P3O), a statement from APMG on P3O qualifications, a look at the quality assurance process being used on the project, and all the most recent information on the PRINCE2: 2009 Project including interviews with the authoring team.

For the latest information on the P3O, sign up for elerts on the project, the publications, and the qualifications at: www.best-management-practice.com/P30Register.

Click on the link or the "read more" button to access the current version of the OGC's newsletter on P3O.

McKinsey Quarterly, June 2008

Primavera^® ProSight^® customer Marina Levinson, CIO of NetApp (www.NetApp.com) is interviewed by McKinsey Quarterly - the research publication of global consultancy McKinsey & Co. - about the outcomes from bringing a portfolio management approach to NetApp's IT organisation.

Ms. Levinson, who was a winner of CIO Magazine’s CIO 100 Award for Innovation (2001) and Agility (2004) and was honored as Premier 100 IT Leader by IDG’s Computerworld (2004) speaks on keys to success at NetApp. Examples include both the high level alignment of the IT organisation to enterprise objectives like "agility" and the tactical delivery of business process improvement via technology such as the 75% reduction in manual "touches" to customer orders.

ComputerWeekly.com, 27 June 2008

Boardrooms will put pressure on IT managers for up to 18 months as they attempt to squeeze more business value from IT, according to the latest research from IT manager forum CIO Connect.

At the same time, businesses faced with the current economic uncertainty are demanding that IT managers achieve more with less, the survey of IT managers shows.

Computerworld UK, 15 May 2008

Survey reveals healthy returns and influence for CIOs that spend on development

CIOs will gain the strategic influence they desire if they innovate and achieve efficiency on tightened budgets says Bryan MacDonald, director of the CIO practice at recruitment specialists Harvey Nash. MacDonald said the company’s 10th annual CIO survey revealed CIOs are focussing on collaborative innovation.

Computerworld UK, April 21 2008

Phil Pavitt, CIO of Transport for London (TfL), has a central theme and he doesn't want you to forget it. That theme is the customer. One year into the role, Pavitt believes he and his team have made significant improvements to TfL and he has a vision of what a CIO and their team can achieve that goes beyond what most people believe a public organization is capable of.

Computerworld UK, March 17 2008

Technology is to play an increasingly important role in the business strategy of oil and gas producer Royal Dutch Shell, in the face of a volatile market. Although no formal technology announcement were made as part of its 2008 strategy review and annual results for 2007, both reports cited the growing importance of technology and the pressures it creates.

eWeek.com, 5 March 2008

Veteran project and portfolio management provider Primavera Systems on March 6 will advance the goal of helping IT executives make the right decisions for their IT investments with the introduction of a new release of its ProSight portfolio manager.

The Web-based ProSight, considered a leader in the portfolio management space according to Gartner, includes a series of new features “that make it much more possible for IT managers to manage the strategic impact of [projects],” said Margo Visitacion, industry marketing manager in Bala Cynwd, Pa.

Computerworld UK, March 11 2008

Scotland’s NHS is to upgrade its IT systems and equipment following a £525 million cash injection from the Scottish government. Of the government allocation, £324 million will be spent across Scotland to build new 'fit-for-purpose' facilities and improve equipment.

Computerworld UK, February 18 2008

Edinburgh Council is set to stick with BT as its IT partner until 2016, after the outsourcer achieved an 88% success rate in meeting a range of improvement targets. The council set out 33 specific targets in 2006 and promised BT it would extend a contract originally signed in 2001 until 2016, if the outsourcer hit 75% of its targets. The contact extension will be put to a council meeting this week with the city being promised more than £22 million in savings over the next eight years from the deal.